How many Australians out there know or even care about the importance of a preamble. I didn't until I read what Bill Hayden had to say during his address in support of the "NO" case for the forthcoming referendum concerning Australia as a republic. The speech was made at the N.S.W. State Parliament House in Sydney on 18th August 1999. [Media embargo until 1pm 18.8.99]. Part of the speech is as follows and pretty well sums up my feelings too.
The Hon. Bill Hayden A.C.
The preamble - it's dreadful. It's passive and dull, boring and uninspiring and when it sought, originally, to put so much value into "mateship", it was, frankly, awkwardly sentimental and moronic. Brian dead may not have been unfair.
In particular, as it's to be non-justiciable, moreover, it could have been revved up a bit to stop us from going to sleep.
Where's our equivalent to the French (Declaration of Rights)-
all men are born, and remain free, and equal in rights; social distinctions can only be found on common utility, (art.1)
the end of every political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man; these rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. (art.11)
And there is the inspiration from the U.S. (Declaration of Independence) -
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. - That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their powers from the consent of the governed......
And what is Australia crash hot on when it comes to inspiration from its proposed constitutional preamble? Not liberty, equality, fraternity, not of political power being founded in the people and accountable to them.
No; Not any of these animating, enduring, passions for which ordinary people, throughout history, from many lands, have been prepared to go, literally, to the barricades for, to fight for, to suffer vile incarceration, including exile to distant, harsh strange lands, to be even slaughtered for, in order to resist tyranny, cruel injustice, unmeritorious privilege. They did that in the hope that one day ordinary men and women would be free; free to breathe the exciting atmosphere of liberty. As we breathe it in Australia.
Our national heritage is the non-fungible but tangible riches which their suffering and sacrifices gifted to their future generations. That's where our social, political, cultural bonding comes from. And we should enshrine it proudly and inspiringly in the preamble of our constitution, as the hope of all humankind, rather than the colourless, formless weak junket pudding that's being dolloped out here.
It's a wonder the drafters of this proposal just didn't propose a simple amendment, thus; "For Preamble, read Dorothy Mackellar's 'I Love A Sunburnt Country'".
I cringe!
On these grounds alone this proposal deserves to be repudiated, but, equally, the two proposals are such a flawed, unbalanced, undemocratic offering that they command a NO vote from any self-respecting, democratic electorate.
Half-baked is not good enough; not for our constitution. This half-baked proposition is about political power. In a democracy the Jefferson Principle is; from the people, by the people, for the people.
This proposal honours only one of those points; from the people; if it succeeds in taking power from the people, from then on they're pushed out of the boat. They can watch, and thresh about and complain, but they're out of the boat because power will be consolidated in the hands of the politicians.
The public say they want their President to be the people's choice. The politicians say; but you don't know how to handle this. Trust us. That's when your blood runs cold.
A rose is a rose by any other name. So's a toadstool. That's what we'd get with this proposal. A bunch of unpleasant toadstools. And no amount of dressing it up can disguise how ugly and unacceptable it is.
NO; it won't do. It's not even half good enough. Go away Mr. Prime Minister and try again. Come back with a model that allows for the people's choice. It is - believe it or not - their democracy!
